Delfín (Dolphin in Spanish) is a diesel-electric submarine of the (known in Spain as the Delfín class) that was used by the Spanish Navy between 1973 and 2003. During the submarine's 30 years of service, the vessel participated in various national and international exercises and maneuvers, made more than 2,500 voyages, more than 30,000 hours of immersion and served in this submarine more than a thousand sailors. At the time of her retirement, she was the longest-serving submarine in the history of the Spanish Submarine Fleet.
In 2004 Delfín was donated by the navy to the town of Torrevieja (province of Alicante, Valencian Community) and converted into a museum ship, thus becoming the first "floating museum" of these characteristics in Spain.Museo flotante submarino S-61 Delfín Ayuntamiento de Torrevieja It is part of the Museo del Mar y de la Sal (Museum of the Sea and Salt).Museo Flotante del Submarino S-61 Delfín en Torrevieja, Alicante El Mundo In the first ten years as a museum it received more than a million visitors.
Construction and features
The submarine was built in the shipyards of Cartagena (Murcia). Its keel laying was carried out on August 13, 1968 and it was launched on March 25, 1972.
It is a French-designed submarine (known as the Delfín class or S-60 series in Spain) displaces 860 t on the surface, while submerged it displaced 1040 t. It has a length of , a beam of and a draft of . It was propelled by a diesel-electric system, made up of two diesel engines and two electric motors that power two propellers, with allowed it to reach on the surface, and submerged.Mañana será entregado a la Armada el submarino "Delfín" (S-61) La Vanguardia (2 de mayo de 1973) The submarine was designed to dive to a depth of and could stay at sea for 30 days.
The submarine has twelve torpedo tubes;Ha sido completada la serie Delfín La Vanguardia (31 de diciembre de 1975) eight tubes in the bow, two in the stern and one in each fin. While the forward tubes contain full-length torpedoes (either for use against a ship or against a submarine), the aft tubes only contain shorter torpedoes (only against submarines, in self-defense). It has the possibility of replacing torpedoes with naval mines, but cannot carry reserve torpedoes due to the limited space available.
It is designed for to patrols against surface or submarine forces, attack on maritime traffic, ship recognition, naval mine distribution and special operations.
Service history The Delfin-class submarine defense program (also called the S-60 series) was approved by the National Defense Board on November 17, 1964 by Minister of the Navy Pedro Nieto Antúnez comprised the first two submarines, later expanded to two plusLA PUESTA A FLOTE DEL «MARSOPA» (CS-63) CARTAGENA UNA Y BASE DE NUESTROS SUBMARINOS La Vanguardia (24 de marzo de 1974) and financed by law 85/65 of November 17. With an initial cost of 700 million pesetas for the first two, the third in the series rose to 1,040 million pesetas (1964).
The names and numbers of the units in the series were assigned by ministerial order 218/73 of March 29.DENOMINACIÓN DE LOS NUEVOS SUBMARINOS «DAPHNE» La Vanguardia (11 de abril de 1973) They were named after marine animals: Delfín (Dolphin), Tonina, Marsopa (Porpoise) and Narval (Narwhal), which had a certain precedent in the fleeting Foca class (Seal class) and Tiburón class (Shark class), although, with few exceptions (those mentioned above and the Peral, Monturiol, Cosme García, García de los Reyes, Mola and Sanjurjo), the submarines of the Spanish Navy used to be identified until then only by their numerals.
The Delfín was registered in the official list of the Navy on May 3, 1973Cartagena: ENTREGA A LA ARMADA DEL NUEVO SUBMARINO "DELFÍN" (S-61) La Vanguardia (24 de marzo de 1973)La Armada despide a su submarino más veterano Revista Naval (10 de septiembre de 2003) in the port of Cartagena in a ceremony attended by the then Minister of the Navy Admiral Adolfo Baturone Colombo.
Throughout its operational life, the Delfín participated in several international maneuvers together with ships from other countries, for example in June 1996 it participated in the Tapón ’96 maneuvers together with the Spanish ships , , and , the Americans and and the Greek destroyer Formion.
Between 1984 and 1988, during their first major careening, the Delfín-class submarines underwent a modernization that fundamentally included the weapons system, to be able to launch wire-guided torpedoes and the dsm (underwater detection) system. The modernization gave a somewhat different look to the bow of the submarines, changing the bow dome, where the sonar is located.
In 1985 the submarine mistakenly fired a torpedo at the Cartagena base.Un torpedo disparado por accidente desde un submarino chocó contra la base de Cartagena El País (20 JUL 1985)
On May 27, 1989, King Juan Carlos I reviewed the fleet at a naval stop in the waters of Barcelona.ABC 28 de mayo de 1989: El Rey, presidió la parada naval en la semana de las Fuerzas Armadas In this naval parade, the , Príncipe de Asturias, the Baleares-class frigates: Andalucía, Extremadura and Victoria, the s, Diana, Vencedora and Infanta Cristina, the submarines Delfín and Marsopa participated, among other smaller units; as well as representatives of other countries, among others, the French , the Italian , the American missile cruiser and the Portuguese frigate Comandante Hermenegildo Capelo.ABC 27 de mayo de 1989: Don Juan Carlos, pasará revista a buques de diez naciones
In 1994 it suffered damage to the fairing of the free movement after a self-launched exercise torpedo hit it. The torpedo made a strange trajectory and ended up attacking the launch ship.El Arma Submarina 100 años en imágenes (1915-2015) Ministerio de Defensa (Página 158)
The Delfín-class submarines were decommissioned between 2003 and 2006; in the particular case of the Delfín it was officially decommissioned on September 10, 2003 (although it was planned to do so on July 2, 2003, the Portuguese Navy was interested in it and although in the end no agreement was reached its discharge was postponed). At that time, she was the Spanish submarine that had served the longest uninterruptedly in the Spanish Navy, after 30 years of service.
Museum ship It was donated by the Spanish Navy as a museum ship since 2004 to the city of Torrevieja (Alicante),El Delfín ya está en Torrevieja Revista Naval (05/11/2004) a town that sponsored it for the Navy after its launch and gave it its first combat flag in 1971. Specifically, it arrived towed by the civilian tugboat Sea Nostromo Primero on May 8, 2004.El S-61 «Delfín» ya está en Torrevieja Revista Naval (11/05/2004) Since then, she has been moored in the port of that town and is part of the Museo del Mar y de la Sal (Museum of the Sea and Salt). After its installation there in the first ten years it exceeded a million visits.Un plan para sacar a flote el 'Tonina' La Opinión de Murcia (10·04·18)Submarino S-61 Delfin y patrullera Albatros III en el puerto de Torrevieja Infototal (enero 31, 2022)
In 2015, the submarine participated in an international amateur radio transmission for 48 hours in an initiative that tried to put all the existing floating museums in the world in contact.Trasmitirán 48hs ininterrumpidas desde los museos submarinos flotantes de todo el Mundo El Snorkel (4 de junio de 2015) In 2019 it became the first floating museum to be adapted for people with functional diversity.El Submarino Museo Delfin-61 es el primero en ser adaptado a personas con diversidad funcional El Snorkel (24 de enero de 2019)
See also List of submarines of the Spanish Navy List of retired Spanish Navy ships
References
External links
Información y horario de visita al Submarino Ayuntamiento de Torrevieja Información para visitar el Submarino S-61 Delfín Portal de turismo de la Comunidad Valenciana La Armada despide a su submarino más veterano Revista Naval (10 de septiembre de 2003) Características Generales de la clase Delfín La Vanguardia (24 de marzo de 1974) Datos técnicos del Submarino Los Barcos de Eugenio EXPERIENCIAS A BORDO DE UN SUBMARINO DE LA CLASE “DELFIN” por Antonio Bergoños González, ex-comandante del Delfín El Arma Submarina 100 años en imágenes (1915-2015) Ministerio de Defensa S-61 Delfín Submarine. Torrevieja Marine LPSPhoto (fotos, página en inglés) Submarino museo S-61 DELFIN (Torrevieja) Vídeo en YouTube Enjoy Directo: El Submarino Delfín de Torrevieja Vídeo en YouTube